The US has been Israel's most important arms supplier for decades. According to data from the Stockholm Peace Research Institute Sipri, 99% of the weapons imported to Israel in the period 2019-2023 came from two countries - the USA and Germany. The USA provided 69 percent of imports, Germany 30 percent.
Before Hamas' terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, Washington was supplying an average of three billion dollars worth of weapons annually. At the same time, the US has supplied much larger quantities of weapons to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.
In the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and against Hezbollah in Lebanon, fighter jets from the USA play an important role. In addition, thousands of rockets are provided.
What weapons is the US supplying to the war in Gaza?
Domestically in the US, the supply of heavy bombs to Israel for the war in Gaza is contested. In May, US President Joe Biden temporarily suspended the delivery of this type of bombs - the US government has serious concerns about the way Israel conducts the war and the high number of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip. According to figures from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, which cannot be independently confirmed, the death toll has exceeded 38,000.
"Our main concern stems from the possible use of heavy bombs in Rafah and elsewhere in Gaza,", a senior US government official told the "Reuters" agency.
The fact that the U.S. halted deliveries of heavy bombs for weeks does not change anything in the volumes delivered in general. "Reuters" concluded that at least 20,500 heavy bombs, 3,000 precision-guided air-to-surface missiles, 1,000 bunker bombs, 2,600 air attack bombs and other munitions had been delivered to Israel since the start of the Gaza war until the end of June. Deliveries of heavy bombs will resume in July.
Weighing 907 kilograms, the MK84 bomb is among the largest conventional bombs in the US military's arsenal. It contains over 400 grams of explosives and can cause great destruction. Therefore, the bomb is most often used against strongly fortified targets or underground bunkers. Its application in densely populated areas due to its large explosion radius and high destructive power is highly contested by experts.
What weapons does Germany supply to Israel?
Last year, the federal government authorized €326.5 million worth of arms supplies to the Allies.
According to media publications, it is about 3,000 portable anti-tank missiles, 500,000 cartridges for automatic and semi-automatic weapons, as well as detonators and metal charges. The most expensive are armored vehicles, military vehicles and armored glass.
Authorized deliveries in the first half of 2023 were only worth 38.5 million euros, but after the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, the volumes were sharply increased.
Following a significant increase in arms exports, Israel currently ranks seventh among countries that receive ammunition from Germany - but far behind other export countries such as Ukraine (over four billion euros), Norway and Hungary (at over one billion).
Among the largest and most complex projects of arms cooperation between Germany and Israel are the Dolphin-II submarines. They can be powered by both diesel and fuel cells, but the largest of this type of submarine is still undergoing trials in Germany. Two other types of submarines - Tanin and Rahay - are already in use by the Israeli Navy.
Are arms supplies to Israel controversial?
In the past, the German arms industry has been constantly criticized for its aid to Israel. In April, the human rights organization European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights filed an urgent appeal with the Administrative Court in Berlin to prevent further arms shipments from Germany to Israel.
The organization filed the complaint on behalf of five Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, whose relatives were killed in Israeli rocket attacks. The court rejected the appeal in mid-June on the grounds that the federal government had adhered to its international commitments in seeking the export permit.
Author: Andreas Knoll